martes, febrero 20, 2007

Iran's foreign ministry on Sunday dismissed talk of immediate suspension of uranium enrichment ahead of this week's UN Security Council deadline despite a recent flurry of Iranian diplomacy that had raised hopes of a compromise.

Intensifying US pressure on Iran, particularly over Tehran's alleged support for Shia militias in Iraq, has led Tehran's political elite to call on the leadership to exercise caution on the nuclear issue, fearing it would be used by Washington as a justification for military action.

[...]

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, will report on Wednesday on Iranian compliance with a December UN Security Council resolution. That decision imposed sanctions on Iran's trade in sensitive nuclear technology and material to force it to stop uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear reactors or atomic weapons.

Analysts in Tehran say that while discussion of "suspension" is no longer taboo, the proposals it is considering fall short of the full, unconditional halt that the UN is demanding.

According to Mohammed ElBaradei, United Nations' chief nuclear, Iran has mastered crucial nuclear technology since August and could be as little as six months away from being able to enrich uranium on an industrial scale.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Tehran was overwhelmingly likely to miss a UN deadline on Wednesday to suspend enrichment, which can produce both nuclear fuel and weapons grade material.

[...]

Since August last year Iran has been using centrifuges at a pilot plant in the town of Natanz to enrich uranium. Although Tehran insists its purposes are purely peaceful, it has refused to halt the process. Both the US and Israel have warned that Iran might reach a "point of no return" in its nuclear programme by mastering the technology of uranium enrichment.

Mr ElBaradei added that US and British intelligence estimates said that Iran was still five to 10 years away from developing a nuclear bomb and warned against "hype" over Tehran's nuclear progress.

He argued that even if the concern that Tehran might acquire technical knowledge about uranium enrichment was "relevant six months ago, it is not relevant today because Iran has been running these centrifuges for at least six months".

The UN inspector added, however, that "there's a big difference between acquiring the knowledge for enrichment and developing a bomb".

He said Iran could install an industrial scale capacity of 3,000 centrifuges - enough to begin producing fissile material for a bomb - within months.

So, the problem now is when Iran will have the nuclear bomb, not if he will have it.

A source in Russia's nuclear power agency Rosatom told Reuters it was obvious the timetable for the Bushehr plant needed to be "corrected" because Tehran had not made payments for the work for more than a month.

Moscow had been due to start nuclear fuel deliveries for the plant in March, ahead of the reactor's planned September start. It was unclear how long the delay would be. Moscow has already pushed back completion several times, citing technical reasons.

Iranian nuclear plant in Bushehr

Atomstroiexport, the Russian state company in charge of the Bushehr work, said existing U.N. sanctions against Iran were also contributing to the delays because of a trading ban on certain atomic equipment.

"There are certain obstacles affecting our work in Bushehr," said spokeswoman Irina Yesipova. "Because of the embargo a number of third countries declined to supply equipment (to Iran). That's why Russian producers have to provide all the equipment all of a sudden. It's a tough situation."

Washington wants Moscow to stop building the Bushehr plant altogether, believing it is encouraging Iran's bid to master uranium enrichment technology, the issue at the heart of Tehran's nuclear dispute with the West.

ElBaradei told a London conference on Monday that Western powers needed to reassure Tehran over its own security rather than just ratchet up international sanctions.

Iran is also planning to destroy ancient archaeological sites. Of course, no MSM has said nothing. Stephania in The American Thinker tells all about this:

Not yet satisfied with ruling Iran by Shari'a, radical Islam is set to wipe out all traces of an ancient civilization deemed as "un-Islamic". On January 22, 2007, the Islamic Republic's Minister of Energy announced the decision to flood theSivand Dam, which will destroy the ancient archeological sites of Pasargad and Bolaghi Gorge, where the mausoleum of Cyrus is located. The sad event is scheduled to take place during the days marking the anniversary of the second Islamist invasion of Iran - that is, the Khomeinist "revolution".

Iranian people demonstrating against this measure

From the Guardian: Once George Bush has got hold of a bad idea -referring to the possibility of invading Iran-, he just can't let it go. In the article, the author considers that US is taking the same steps the took with Iraq, and insists on the bad situation this country is now.

These countries for the most part have been passive and disengaged. They have declined to provide debt relief or substantial economic assistance to the Iraqi government. Several Iraqi Sunni Arab politicians complained that Saudi Arabia has not provided political support for their fellow Sunnis within Iraq. One observed that Saudi Arabia did not even send a letter when the Iraqi government was formed, whereas Iran has an ambassador in Iraq. Funding for the Sunni insurgency comes from private individuals within Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, even as those governments help facilitate U.S. military operations in Iraq by providing basing and overflight rights and by cooperating on intelligence issues.

The Americans have also been coy about the threat to their helicopters. At least six are now admitted to have been downed by hostile fire, and the number could be as high as 50, including a Chinook loaded with dozens of troops. Who is doing this and how, the Americans will not say - for obvious security reasons. But the chances are that at least some of the helicopters have been downed by those Sunni extremist pals of Saudi Arabia and Jordan - which hardly helps the case for war against Iran. [HT: Le Conservateur].

And Al-Qaeda is reuniting in Pakistan, having set a band of training camps in the tribal regions near the Afghan border, according to American intelligence and counterterrorism officials. American officials said there was mounting evidence that Bin Laden and his deputy, Zawahri had been steadily building an operations hub in the mountainous Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan. (HT A Tangled Web).